1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to surgical instruments, and, more particularly, to a surgical retractor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Surgical retractors are known which can separate skin tissue, muscle, organs and/or other tissue for the purpose of allowing access to a surgical site. This may typically be done after an incision has been made and the retractor is in inserted into the incision and retracted to expand the incision, for example.
A surgical retractor is known, of the type used to retract tissue or muscles during a surgical operation, which includes an outer ring having a downwardly extending outer blade and an inner ring having a downwardly extending inner blade. The inner ring is nested within the outer ring such that the inner blade is rotatable from a first position overlapped to the outer blade, to a second position in which it is diametrically opposite the outer blade. A first handle is used to hold the outer ring while a second handle rotates the inner ring. The surgical retractor is inserted into an incision with the arcuate blades in the first position and the outer and inner rings are rotated to spread muscle and tissue. A problem with this design is that, with the inner ring nested within the outer ring, it can trap biomatter between the inner ring and outer ring therefore requiring disassembly before cleaning and sterilization. Another problem is that it is a complex design which is relatively costly to manufacture. Another problem with this design is that it requires that the two handles be held to maintain the second position in which the first blade is diametrically opposite the outer blade, thereby not allowing a hands free operation.
A surgical instrument is known for spreading apart the internal organs of a patient. The instrument includes a scissors-like main body portion having a plurality of blades that open to spread apart the area being examined so that a surgical tool can be inserted therein. The surgical tool can pass through a gate formed between the spread-apart blades while maintaining the spread-apart condition of the area being examined. The blades can then be restored to their closed position after the tool is withdrawn. This is a very complex design which is also relatively costly to manufacture and difficult to clean and sterilize.
What is needed in the art is a radially expanding surgical retractor which is cost efficient to manufacture, which is easy to use, clean and sterilize, and which can be used to maintain the spread-apart condition of an incision/surgical site hands-free.